TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- After two weeks of descending prices and profit-taking, during the second week of November the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) rose in all leading indices, in keeping with the positive trend in international financial markets.

The TA-25 index, which increased 3% over the week, completed a cumulative year-to-date surge of 61%. The TA-75 index gained 4%, bringing its cumulative year-to-date return to 139%. This stellar performance can be attributed to the sharp increase in prices earlier this year of shares involved in the discovery of gas on two sites off Israel's Mediterranean shore.

Leading risers this week were in the major finance companies advancing 5%, while the large real estate and hi-tech companies share prices rose only by 1.5%-2%.

An interested party shareholder completed this week the selling of 18% of "Bezeq", a telecommunications company (whose shares are included in the TA-25 index), to institutional investors at the sum of US $1 billion was completed this week.

The Israeli treasury raised an additional US $290 million this week in local government bond issues. The government raised about US $15.7 billion since the beginning of the year, a sum slightly higher than the amount raised during the entire year of 2008.

About TASE:

Established in September 1935, the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange is Israel's sole stock exchange, offering an increasingly sophisticated range of products to investors, including equity, corporate bonds, treasury bills and notes, index products and derivatives. The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange features 627 companies listing equities, 345 index-tracking products, 37 series of government bonds, 578 series of corporate bonds and 1136 mutual funds. As of September 2009, the exchange's market capitalization in equities was over US$200 billion. In recent years, the exchange has enhanced its international presence, signing Memorandums of Understanding with the London Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and NYSE-Euronext.

Visit the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange's Website www.tase.co.il

Grayling

Alistair Scott or Jonathan Shillington, 020-7255-1100

or

TASE

Idit Yaaron or Orna Goren, 972-3-5677564/405

Source: Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange

<<Business Wire -- 11/13/2009>>